<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>they match by Ani_Rygaard</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28952400">they match</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ani_Rygaard/pseuds/Ani_Rygaard'>Ani_Rygaard</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Coming Out, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M, OOC, Original Character(s), POV Outsider, Pet Names, jack is a dick but what's new</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:27:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28952400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ani_Rygaard/pseuds/Ani_Rygaard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Baby Fox finding out about Andrew and Neil cause Neil called Andrew babe. This is my first fic, I understand it's super ooc and terrible but still.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>182</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm sorrrry this is so bad.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrea's sitting in the upperclassmen girls' room, her legs propped up on the coffee table, when it happens.</p><p> </p><p>They had all gotten back from practice a day ago when Dan had held up her hand, signaling that she wanted to say something. Andrea immediately perked up to listen, earning herself an elbow in the ribs from her only real friend in the Foxes. Ellie gave her a look that screamed '<em>you're being obvious</em>' and Andrea rolled her eyes back.</p><p>She hadn't meant to tell Ellie about her talent (and also slightly real) crush on the captain of their humble team. Alcohol had been the only thing that she didn't factor in when she decided the small crush should be kept to herself, but she could do nothing that fateful night when three shots in she was gushing all her secrets to her one and only friend. </p><p>"Everyone! Movie night is on for tomorrow night, our room!" Dan sat back down after her PSA and Andrea felt herself getting excited. This would be the first time all of the freshman were invited to the movie nights that the upperclassmen held weekly and Andrea couldn't wait. She found herself wanting to get to know the foxes, to actually get to know them instead of just reading about them in the media. Ellie and her had talked about it a couple nights ago, how mysterious they all were. Even the way they acted around each other, not just the other athletes in the tower, was weird.</p><p>The monsters, as she had heard Allison call the group containing Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, Andrew, and Neil, were consistent. They were sharp and brittle, snapping at the slightest of grievances, even with each other they weren't ever soft. Nicky was loud and brash, if not nice enough, but the rest of them were cold to each other. Kevin Day, the legend, was paranoid and obsessed, which seemed to rub Andrew the wrong way. Andrea didn't think she ever wanted to rub Andrew the wrong way. He was terrifying with the knives and the blank expression. Even with his own family he seemed to be violent. She did not understand him or his angry twin, and she certainly didn't understand their last member. Neil was interesting, mingling between the upperclassmen and the monsters, but was still defensive with the freshmen. Andrea wasn't sure she knew him well enough to develop an opinion.</p><p>The upperclassmen were different. They were softer, but just as protective of their little group. Matt was kind, the kind of dude her little sister would've called a cinnamon roll, and him and Dan did seem genuinely good together. Dan was obviously perfect, a balance of all the right qualities, but the other two girls were different. Renne was always so calm, despite her past, and she had an uncanny way of reading people. Allison was her least favorite. She was always mean, the jabs hitting harder than they should, considering what Andrea had been through before the Foxes. The two groups would come together sometimes, but they never seemed to be perfectly in harmony, though from what she'd heard, they were much better than the year before. </p><p>"Andrea! This is your chance to see just how your crush lives! Do you think she's a slob?"</p><p>"Ugh, don't call it that. It's not a crush, it just a slight . . . appreciation of her beauty and talent in everything she does."</p><p>"Yeah. Just remember she's taken," Ellie said, picking at her nails. Andrea had rolled her eyes at that.</p><p>Stupid crush. Stupid Ellie. </p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>That night at the girls' dorm, Andrea and Ellie sit down somewhat awkwardly on the white couch in the girls' dorms. Despite Ellie's speculation, the dorm is so clean, the furniture nice and simple, yet elegantly arranged. Nicky is making drinks for everyone, passing them around the room, and Renne is setting up snacks on the table. Most of the freshman have yet to arrive but sadly the only other ones besides Andrea and Ellie are Jack and Sheena. Jack is already making comments, mad at the world, and taking it out on Neil, who just glares at him and sinks deeper into the couch. </p><p>"Stop talking." Andrew's voice cuts through Jack's continuous barrage of insults. He rolls his eyes, and looks like he's going to speak again, but the sound of the doorbell cuts him off. </p><p>"I'll get it," Matt says, pausing to kiss Dan on the cheek before leaving. </p><p>"What movie should we watch?" Nicky asks, breaking through the tension. The room explodes in a chorus of movies and arguing, but eventually they all settle on Legally Blonde. </p><p>Everyone settles around the room, the movie starting. Legally Blonde has only just gotten started when Andrea hears something she probably wasn't supposed to from Neil, seated about a foot away from her on the couch. </p><p>"Do you want anything, babe? I'm getting up." </p><p>Andrea freezes. Glances between the two. She's sure she's about the see a murder from the way Andrew is glaring at Neil, but instead the blonde just responds, "No, junkie." Neil brushes a finger against Andrew's arm as he gets up, and Andrea quickly averts her eyes. </p><p>Andrew? And Neil? Together? A COUPLE? </p><p>Actually thinking back on it, it makes sense. They sometimes sit together on the bus, and Andrew never seems quite as murderous when Neil is around. Andrea risks another glance, only to see Andrew staring back at her, eyes unimpressed. She winces and tries to sit closer to Ellie, who gives her a look but doesn't say anything. </p><p>"Keep it to yourself," is all Andrew says when they're all heading out the door that night, the words only for her. She nods and lets out a sigh. </p><p>After that she notices more. </p><p>Notices the soft looks.</p><p>Notices the fondness behind the insults. </p><p>Even starts to notice some of the more obvious things, like how they both disappear up to the roof at the same time. It's almost a wonder she never saw it before. </p><p>"So you know?" Allison says one day during practice. Andrea didn't know what had given her away, but she nodded nonetheless. </p><p>"They're good together," Andrea blurts out. </p><p>"Yeah, it took me a while to realize that. But, well, they match."</p><p>The girls walk off, not talking, but both are thinking about their strange teammates, the way <strong>they match. </strong></p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Continuing Andrea's story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I'm gonna add some stuff to Andrea's story because I want to get to know her better as a character and some of you said you did too. Also, I have no idea how practice would work, so bare with me (should that be bear not bare? IDK) Also I completely forgot that Robin existed so I'm just going with this is in the summer, people are still being recruited. Don't know if that's how recruitment works but that's how i'm making it work.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Andrea, why do you like Dan so much?” Ellie whispers across the seat. </p><p>Andrea cuts her eyes over to the girl, glaring daggers at her. This is the fifth time in the past three hours she has been teased about the stupid crush, the crush that honestly dwindles the more she sees Dan with Matt, who Andrea is mature enough to admit are good together. </p><p>All the questions are getting annoying, but Andrea doesn’t say anything to make Ellie stop, just clutches her fingers against her palms, tiny crescent shapes showing up there and lets out a sigh. Confronting people, losing her temper, being anything more than a nice girl you glance at but don’t linger on is how she likes to be. It’s how she was taught to be, and the instincts to back down are ingrained into her very core. </p><p>Ellie looks disappointed at the lack of reaction she is getting from Andrea and tosses her dyed blonde hair out of her face. She looks away from Andrea to stare out the window of Sheena’s car.</p><p>As one of the only freshmen who owns a car, Sheena sometimes drives them both to practice with her and Jack. She does live in the same dorm as them, after all. </p><p>Jack is sitting up front glaring out the window as he rants about something Neil’s supposedly done to him. Sheena is nodding her head and saying something occasionally but it doesn’t seem like she’s all that interested. Personally, Andrea has a hunch that Sheena has developed her own crush on the most annoying of all the teammates, and that’s the only reason she continually agrees with him. Andrea, herself, tries not to pay too much attention to him but it’s hard to help it when he won’t shut up. </p><p>“Wesininski just gets all the attention. Kevin doesn’t even look at me. I just don’t see how it’s fair. He’s not even good, like come on. Everyone carries him. He shouldn’t even be on that court.” If Andrea were bolder she would tell him that it sounds like he has a crush on Kevin Day, but for fear of a typical outlash she keeps quiet and nudges Ellie instead. </p><p>Ellie pointedly doesn’t look at her and instead raises her chin and crosses her arms to ignore Andrea harder. Andrea rolls her eyes and shakes her head softly. Ellie is being childish, has been all day and for most of the past week. She keeps talking about Dan and then gets mad when Andrea doesn’t say anything. She inserts passive aggressive comments into their already strained conversations and just generally avoids Andrea. She feels the cold shoulder and takes it without complaint, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. </p><p>Jack stops talking (finally) and Andrea looks up from her fidgety hands to see that they’ve arrived. She gets out of the car, slinging her bag over her shoulder and says nothing to Ellie, even though she wants to. </p><p>“Who’s that?” Sheena sneers. </p><p>“I don’t know,” Andrea responds. There’s a man with blonde hair, tall, dressed in light clothes for the weather, standing next to Nicky. Well, more like holding Nicky up, as it looks like the cheery backliner is hanging off the man's side, an arm around his waist and a huge smile plastered to his face. </p><p>They approach the group, made up of almost all of the “OG” foxes, save Aaron and Renne. Andrew and Neil and standing together, Neil engaging in the conversation and Andrew staring boredly off into the distance, occasionally glancing up at the strikers face. The upperclassmen and Nicky and the man seem to be listening in on a conversation between Neil and the blonde man, putting in a comment every so often.</p><p>“Oh!” Nicky pulls away from the man slightly and levels Andrea’s group with a happy smile, interrupting Neil and saying, “You guys, this is my boyfriend Erik! He just came from Germany and he’s gonna watch us at practice today!” Nicky looks so happy, and his boyfriend, Erik, just looks down at the shorter man fondly. </p><p>“Ew, not all of us want to see that shit,” Jack says, sneering and muttering insults as he walks away. His delicate heterosexual worldview had been cracked, just for a moment, but long enough that he shouted the f-slur back at the group. Andrea flinches slightly, reminded of all the times her father had shouted that at her, telling her she would ruin his reputation, his chance of being reelected. He threw her out of the house with those words on his lips when he’d caught her kissing a girl. </p><p>“I thought you guys said he didn’t react after finding out about you?” Nicky says, happiness diluted, looking at Neil and Andrew. </p><p>“What about you two?” Ellie asks, utterly oblivious. The upperclassmen exchange looks but don’t answer her, instead Matt steps up and says something about practice. </p><p>Andrea really hadn’t told anyone about Andriel, as she was calling it in her mind. She knew what it was like to be outed, and after hearing the way Jack mouthed off about Nicky all the time, she didn’t think anything good would have come from telling. Besides, Andrea liked Neil and Andrew, maybe didn’t know them that well and found the way they acted a little scary, but she did not hate them. </p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>After changing and getting ready, they began warm ups, running around the built in tracks. Ellie had started out next to Andrea but within the first ten seconds had run up to jog with Sheena instead. She’s pretty pissed, if she’s subjecting herself to Sheena. </p><p>Andrea sighs and jogs slowly, keeping pace with the rest of the foxes, but not talking to anyone. She doesn’t particularly like running, but it does help to stay healthy and keep in shape. </p><p>“You kept it to yourself,” a voice says from beside her. She startles a bit, almost tripping over her own feet but recovers quickly and glances back at Neil, who’s snuck up on her. </p><p>“Uh, yeah. I didn’t mean to find out in the first place and it just wasn’t something i thought I should tell anyone, especially with people like Jack on the team.” He nods and slows his pace so he can be with Andrew and Renne at the back again. </p><p>Andrea lets out a sigh of relief. She survived a conversation with Neil Josten, if you could call it that it was so short. </p><p> </p><p>The rest of practice goes by smoothly, but something strange happens in the middle. When practicing with Jack in scoring, Andrew actually blocks one of her shots. He usually just sits there looking bored or on the worst days shoots the ball back at their shins. The shin thing hurts like hell when it hits hard enough. </p><p>Andrea furrows her eyebrows but doesn’t say anything about it. She shoots again, and he blocks it, yet again. Jack isn’t even being acknowledged, and he keeps looking between them with a constipated look on his face. </p><p>“Hey Minyard, it makes sense that you can’t do any better than Andrea, but special treatment isn’t fucking fair.” Andrea just stares at him for a second, letting her racket hang limp, and he looks back at her, smug as ever, his mouth curled up in a smile. </p><p>“You shouldn’t just assume things Jack,” she says quietly. It’s the best she can do. Standing up for herself is kind of foreign. </p><p>“What, so you’re saying you don’t have a thing for Minyard?” </p><p>“I think his boyfriend would have something to say about that,” Aaron mumbles from where he’s leaning against his racket. Jack is luckily out of earshot but Andrea’s mouth quirks up at the joke. </p><p>“Hey! Let’s get back to work!”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>After practice, Andrea is awkwardly cornered by Ellie, who looks nervous, her eyes moving back and forth and down the hallway, pulling at the necklace she has from before her mom died. </p><p>‘What was that whole thing with Neil and Andrew?” she says, but that must not be what she wants to say because she still looks just as restless. </p><p>“I don’t know,” she lies. Andrea won’t tell her what she saw at the upperclassmen girls’ dorm unless andriel tells everyone first. </p><p>“Why are you lying, Andrea? I thought we were friends,” Ellie says, swallowing. </p><p>“Are we,” Andrea whispers, “Are we really? Because you don’t even talk to me about anything but Dan anymore. And what’s the deal with that? It’s just a super small talent crush, and besides, I didn’t think you were like . . . homophobic or something,” she says, trailing off at the end. Ellie snaps back at that.</p><p>“I-I’m not homophobic. I’m bi.”</p><p>“Oh, okay, w-well then why are you acting like this?”</p><p>Elllie takes a deep breath and then glares at Andrea, “Just forget it.” She turns down the hall and out the door, getting in Sheena’s truck and saying something to her. Suddenly the engine starts up. Andrea doesn’t even try to stop them as they drive away, just stands in the lot, simmering with anger. She didn’t even do anything, and Ellie is being so weird and it’s downright absurd. </p><p>“Can i get a ride with you guys?” She asks, voice small, to the monsters. Everyone else’s already gone, and they have an extra seat since Nicky rode in Erik’s rental car. </p><p>Kevin looks at her with confusion, and Aaron just pushes past her to get to the car. Andrew doesn’t say anything and Neil sighs but nods. None of them seem happy about it, but at least now she has a ride out of there. </p><p>In the bright Maserati, Andrea ends up sandwiched between Aaron and Kevin who both are trying the best they can to not touch her at all. Aaron looks the most uncomfortable with the situation. </p><p>“Why couldn’t you go with your friends?” Neil asks, sounding like he’s trying to make conversation. </p><p>“Jack and Sheena are not my friends. Jack literally hates me and Sheena’s too obsessed with him to feel any different. And Ellie . . . is mad at me for some reason. She’s being really moody and won’t stop pestering me about this one thing,” Andrea answers, all the words spilling out in a mix of tiredness and anger. </p><p>None of them reply until Kevin says, “You should come to night practice with us tonight. Your skills need refining, you couldn’t even score once today.” Andrea shrinks in on herself but in the back of her mind she remembers; Night practice is like a big deal, isn’t it? They don’t invite any of the other freshmen even though they’re doing just as bad if not worse. </p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>A small smile spreads across her face and she almost puts the fight with Ellie out of her mind.</p><p>“We leave at 10:00.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>😚</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>not very happy with the ending, but whatever. This is my first fic so it'd mean a lot to me if you could leave a kudo and a comment telling me what you think! Please be nice though😊</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>